This invention relates to prosthetic devices and more particularly to prosthetic devices designed for long-term implantation in the human body wherein it is necessary to make a connection between two components or between a prosthetic element and an element of the human body.
In fabricating prosthetic devices for implantation in the human body, it often becomes necessary to attach dissimilar materials to each other. One example is the attachment of a fabric sewing cuff to the exterior of a housing portion of a heart valve. Heretofore, such fabric sewing cuffs have been attached using a circumferential fabric wrapping, a heat-shrinkable synthetic polymer, or a wrapping of metallic wire. However, because it is now hoped that heart valves and other such prosthetic devices, once implanted within the human body, can stay there for the life of the patient, it is important that the joinder remain excellent over a long period of time. It is also desired to eliminate any possibility of failure as a result of mishandling in any way, as for example by overheating a heat-shrinkable polymer. Moreover, synthetic polymers are inherently subject to creep over their lifetime, and if, for example, a heart valve should ever break loose from the sewing cuff, the possible harm to the patient would be most serious.